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DEFAZIO MEETS WITH GOODLATTE ON SHIELD ACT — The Oregon lawmaker’s bill that would make patent trolls pay attorneys fees and costs tied to lawsuits they bring and lose has plenty of support from the tech sector, but there’s been little indication so far that it’s high on the House Judiciary Committee’s list. That doesn’t mean it’s fallen from Rep. Peter DeFazio’s radar, though, and the Democrat told MT that he met with committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte the week before last to chat about the measure — and that he’s encouraged by the degree of support he’s seen. While Goodlatte’s committee is turning its focus to immigration, the chairman has previously said he wants to tackle the patent troll problem — all the while not endorsing the SHIELD Act. From Goodlatte’s perspective, the bill has pluses and minuses, DeFazio told us. “He wants to address the issue. There are elements of my proposal that he likes and others that he has some concerns about,” he said. “So we’re still kind of working it through, but I think we’ll see some action.” At the same time, we know the American Association for Justice still has big problems with the bill.

RUPPERSBERGER: LET’S GET TO CONFERENCE ON INFO SHARING — Internet activists lit up late last week over headlines saying CISPA is dead in the Senate, even though neither the bill’s lacking prospects in the upper chamber nor its hot-button name-recognition is anything new. But for co-sponsor and House Intelligence Committee ranking member Dutch Ruppersberger, you can call the measure whatever you want — as long as you get something passed on the cyber debate’s info-sharing component. “That’s fine with [House Intelligence Chairman Mike] Rogers and I. All we want to do is get a bill passed and protect our country. Whatever it’s called,” he told MT. “It’s about end game.” He and Rogers are meeting with their Senate counterparts Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss this week, hoping to get a sense of how an info-sharing bill could move through the upper chamber. “What we want is just some type of bill passed. Let us get to conference, and I think we can resolve some of these issues,” Ruppersberger said. He also gave a nod to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who he said allowed the debate process to move forward and provided him with forums to make his arguments — even as she voted against the bill in the end.

SENATE STAFF TO GET DOJ BRIEFING ON SWARTZ CASE -- The Department of Justice will brief Senate Judiciary Committee staff next week on the prosecution of Aaron Swartz, a Senate aide told MT. The meeting, slated for Thursday, is the latest development on an issue that took tech advocacy circles by storm in January. MT Nation remembers that Rep. Zoe Lofgren unveiled a draft bill that month on the underlying policy point — the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act’s treatment of terms of service violators — but it hasn’t been introduced yet. In fact, the CFAA reform text that’s gotten the most chatter as of late was a draft bill floated by GOP House Judiciary Committee staff that would actually stiffen penalties under the law.

At the same time, the Senate hasn’t completely ignored the issue. Judiciary Committee members John Cornyn and Al Franken both wrote to DOJ earlier this year asking for information about the department’s actions in the Swartz case, which the tech activist’s supporters contend contributed to his suicide. And the committee’s chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, asked Attorney General Eric Holder in March whether the department would consider prohibiting CFAA prosecutions based solely on ToS violations. Holder said “that is something we can look at,” but it’s not clear what DOJ is doing on that question.

GOOD MONDAY MORNING and welcome to Morning Tech, where the Friday-Saturday combo of Hill Country, Ray’s Hell Burger and Ben’s Chili Bowl has us reassessing our decision-making paradigm. Through it all, though, we did manage to go 7-for-8 in the Allbritton Filibusters’ defeat of Channel 4 and WTOP on this weekend — so maybe we’ve found a new pre-game ritual. Share your nutritional secrets with us at abyers@politico.com, or tweet @byersalex and @POLITICOPro. And catch the rest of the team’s contact info after Speed Read.

TECH FIRMS INK NEW K STREET CONTRACTS — Last week brought us news of changing lobbying spending across the tech sector. Facebook and Apple opened up the spigot, for example: http://politico.pro/11vqBUs. But it also gave us a stack of new registration filings to sort through. Here are a few that jumped out: Dropbox, the file-hosting service, is making its first foray into Washington with The Joseph Group. (ECPA, cybersecurity and CFAA reform are on their agenda, according to their filing.) Sprint has brought on Northfork Strategies and Bloom Strategic Counsel to look at wireless policy and competition issues. Samsung inked a deal in the first quarter with Squire Sanders to lobby on tech’s favorite issue: immigration. And TracFone, which registered its own representation earlier this month, also inked a fourth lobby shop in April: Upstream Consulting.

PANEL WANTS ONLINE WIRETAP EXPANSION — The Washington Post reports in this morning’s paper: “A government task force is preparing legislation that would pressure companies such as Face­book and Google to enable law enforcement officials to intercept online communications as they occur, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the effort. ... Driven by FBI concerns that it is unable to tap the Internet communications of terrorists and other criminals, the task force’s proposal would penalize companies that failed to heed wiretap orders — court authorizations for the government to intercept suspects’ communications.” More here: http://wapo.st/ZQIEGl. For background, read this Slate blog post from last month: http://slate.me/ZQIFdt

CANTOR TOUTS OPEN DATA — The House majority leader took a second to stress the role technology can play in creating a more open government during his Friday appearance at the MPAA-Microsoft-Time-backed Creativity Conference. He even gave a shout-out to former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, specifically highlighting efforts in California. Open government data allows “citizens and cities across the country access to information so they can better help their communities solve programs,” Cantor said. Newsom, who just wrote a book on the topic, has championed the link between technology and government services. He suggests changes as basic as a Yelp model that allows people to rate the DMV or interact with the parks department. Cantor, who is headed to the Golden State this week, also said "there is no question" the Republican party is doing better in its own technological efforts.

A NEW DIGITAL AUDIENCE FOR MASS. LAW ENFORCEMENT — The Boston Police Department now has than 400,000 followers and fans on social media, Steve Friess reports. So what do you do with your new-found audience? “Advocates for social media use by police view the bombing and manhunt as a watershed moment in many ways — and one that they hope will inspire other departments. Most notably, they point to the post on YouTube by the FBI of security footage that helped identify suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and the use of Facebook and Twitter along with more conventional media in urging Boston-area residents to shelter in place during the pursuit of the surviving, younger brother.” More, for Pros: http://politico.pro/10mUxQm

PRIVACY BILL-O-RAMA IN THE GOLDEN STATE -- California lawmakers are considering more than a dozen data and privacy related bills this session. The bills include the “Right to Know Act,” which would require companies to disclose more about how they use customers’ personal data. TechNet, the Internet Alliance and TechAmerica signed on to a letter last month asking State Assembly member Bonnie Lowenthal not to move forward with that particular bill. Another measure would require website operators to disclose whether they honor Do Not Track requests. Others focus on credit card data, medical information, genetic information and privacy related to public utilities. “We are seeing increased interest among lawmakers and the public on these issues,” said Jon Fox, a consumer advocate with the California Public Interest Research Education Fund. “Privacy and consumer protection laws both online and offline need to be updated.”

SPEED READ

BOSTON TRIPS UP REDDIT: But the site isn’t ready to institute to rules for conduct, General Manager Erik Martin tells The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/Y7WgMV

SCHMIDT PREDICTS CONSUMER TECH’S NEXT STEPS: Get ready for devices that knock you for procrastinating, the Google chairman says in a CBS News interview: http://cbsn.ws/12aVc8U

CYBERATTACK SUSPECT HAD BUNKER IN SPAIN, OFFICIALS SAY: And he had a van fitted for mobile hacking too, authorities say: http://bit.ly/12aWYa1

TWITTER HACK PROMPTS QUESTIONS ABOUT NEW INFO DISCLOSURE RULES: The new SEC rule, prompted by Netflix, puts social media content in the front and center, The New York Times reports: http://nyti.ms/12aYKIe

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